NATURE WATCH: Yellow-rumped Warblers in the ‘Hood

by Nona Estrin

Had we not wandered down to Carol Dixon and Bruce Howlett’s beaver ponds during the clear cold snap recently, we never would have guessed that so many yellow-rumped warblers were in the neighborhood. These ponds are protected from the north and west winds, and they hold the afternoon sun and warmth. Insects were in the air here, the morning skim ice had long melted. A hundred or so warblers were darting over and around the ponds, too busy feeding to notice us or think of anything but keeping the calorie balance on the right side of starvation, during a migration deep freeze!